This one is official…nine previously missing episodes of classic Doctor Who from the Troughton years have been recovered in Nigeria, Africa. Two more were found but had previously been recovered elsewhere.

The entire serial of “The Enemy of the World”, the fourth of Season 5, has been recovered, and all but one episode of “The Web of Fear”, which introduced Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, to later be affectionately known as “The Brigadeer”, were recovered. Both serials have been painstakingly restored and remastered, with set photos and recorded audio filling in the still missing Episode 3 of “The Web of Fear”. Both will be available exclusively on iTunes October 11th, with DVD releases to follow.

Phillip Morris, director of Television International Enterprises Archive, tracked down the missing episodes via shipping records the BBC had of recordings sent out of the country. “The tapes had been left gathering dust in a store room at a television relay station in Nigeria,” Morris said. “I remember wiping the dust off the masking tape on the canisters and my heart missed a beat as I saw the words ‘Doctor Who’. When I read the story code I realized I’d found something pretty special.”

Sadly, this is far, far less than the rumored 90 episodes, but it still allows hope that still more will be found.